Eating Healthy - Check In & Support

No, not the illegal kind, and not the alcoholic kind. Not even the prescription med kind.

Addiction to sugar, pre-processed foods, and other edibles that are horrid for us. Foods that FEED inflammation and make Lupus worse.

The last few days all my joints have been hurting, and I fear a flare is coming on. All because I can't keep my mouth shut. I CAN'T quit consuming soft drinks and processed white foods. I *know* these foods contribute to inflammation, without a doubt.

I can even go about 3 weeks with a protein, vegetable, and fruit diet. Then some little thing will throw my mental state off balance and I crave, addiction crave, a soft drink. And just a few cookies to go with it.

And, then, once I've fallen off the wagon, it takes months to get to eating well again. I *know* I feel better without this crappy food.

Surely many of you feel the same. Any suggestions on how we can support each other and break this cycle? I need help!

Interesting that you post this topic, I am so in the midst of this right now!!! You have described my eating habits to a "T"! I am a person who can literally live on chips, salsa and Diet Coke. Lately, I have been craving chocolate like crazy. Like you I know I shouldn't have it but if it's in the house I will eat it non-stop. My eating habits are so bad that my labs show malnutrishment and my doctor is constantly on me to eat more protein!

So, to your point about how we can support or help one another, I would be totally in! Perhaps we have a check in here on the board a few times a week. We could encourage one another in ways to eat better incorporating fruits and veggies, etc. Thoughts?

One rule I think we will need if this is to work: Don't mention the unhealthy foods by name. They can easily trigger a craving in someone else that might be their undoing.

For instance, Joy mentioned a cheese danish earlier. So now that's what my little pea brain thinks is NECESSARY as a dinner item. Not so, little brain, not so!

Saturday check-in. Vitamins - check. Three meals - check. Two sorta' balanced, one had too much sugar. But no extra bingeing & no over eating.

Overall grade: C (On Scale of A,B,C,D,F)

How'd y'all do?

Sunday check in-

Vitamins - check
Breakfast - balanced
Lunch - fairly decent job
Dinner - balanced
No snacking (so far)

Overall grade B (got in protein, fruits and veggies today, yay me)

I give myself a F.
I've been having to care for my sister and her partially paralyzed husband for a month now. I'm a terrible cook and we've been eating bad. I'm also too tired from driving her to all of her doctor's visits.
Go to change something soon.

Joy, glad you are joining us. Just try to squeeze in a few vegetables, ok?

My Monday wasn't too great on the food front. Vitamins, check. Breakfast - darn those soft drinks! Lunch - C. Snack - ugh. Bad carbs. Dinner - skipped.
Overall today - D.

Hoping we all do better tomorrow!

Fran we would love for you to join us, the more the merrier! I think all of our goal is to eat healthy and excerise as this helps keep inflammation low and in turn we feel better.

Today I had eggs and cheese with a touch of olive oil and coffee.
Lunch popcorn at Target while waiting for my medicine

Tuesday Check In:

Vitamins - Check
Breakfast - oatmeal, but could have done better if I'd managed to get fruit in as well.
Lunch - balanced
Dinner - balanced

I'm going to give myself a B+ for today, breakfast I could have done
No snacking, managed to home cook all my meals today, lunch and dinner had clean protein and veggies. Tomorrow I'm back out of town again for doctors appointments, so I know my eating habits will suffer as a result.

That's a tough one, Butterflake. I have a couple of ideas to toss out, maybe one of them will appeal to you or spark another idea that works.

1) Ask him to prepare the same food, but in a second dish make a version without the spices.
2) Ask him to try preparing something and hold the spices until the food is on the plate. It may not make as much of a difference as he thinks it will.
3) Try a protein drink. I have one that's not too bad. I find if I use it when my appetite is low sometimes it helps get me interested in other foods.
4) Are there any vegetables that you like in their raw forms? I find raw veggies have the crunchiness that sometimes is what I want in junk foods. And they need less preparation as well. Today some grocery stores have stuff already cut up for eating.
5) Tried any of the frozen meals? They are a LOT better than they used to be. Although I admit I'd be loath to try them myself.
6) For exercise, do something SMALL. Walk around the parking lot once a day, to start. Start with something you know you can achieve so you get a positive track record built up.

Also, some simple foods include tuna salad and eggs. Maybe egg salad. Sometimes I do sliced ham (the no-salt kind) rolled up with some swiss cheese and maybe a lettuce leaf.

That's all that comes to mind at the moment, will add if I think of anything else. Hope that helps a little.

You are in a tough situation Butterflake, I've been where you are. There was a period of almost a year I lived on packaged peanut butter crackers, Diet Coke and very little else. I am blessed that my husband would (still will) cook anything I wanted, but I was like you very little appealed to me.

When I finally did start eating I did exactly what Lynnwood is talking about, I buy lunch meat and Swiss cheese, so I can just grab it quick when I get hungry and it keeps me (most of the time) from snacking. When my husband is at work I also buy Healthy Choice TV dinners for variety, they are low calories and I think the flavor is actually pretty good. I also buy the prepackaged salad mix to make a quick salad and then cut up the lunch meat and cheese for a quick chef's salad.

When I'm feeling bad my husband does the grocery shopping, I make a list of things I want and I ask him to please not bring junk food in the house because it helps me to stay on track.

Lastly, my rheumatologist recommended yoga for arthritis, I thought he was crazy and let's admit getting down on the floor and stretching is easier said than done when you're swollen and sore. I did some research on YouTube and I found chair yoga, it's about 15 minutes long, there are several to choose from. It is actually quite a workout and I have to admit I do feel better when I do it.

Hope this helps a little.

Ok on meals, but snacks were bad. Too much sugar.